1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an ice making machine, and more particularly, to an ice making machine enabled to reduce ice making time and to minimize the amount of water being wasted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An ice making machine is an apparatus for making pieces of ice by freezing water supplied from an external water supply. More recently, ice making machines enabled to prevent opacification of ice pieces, which occurs as air bubbles inside the water are frozen, has been proposed.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a conventional ice making machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,243. The conventional ice making machine as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a housing 10, a freezing unit 20, and an air removing means 30.
The housing 10 of the ice making machine comprises an ice bin 11 for storing ice pieces produced in the freezing unit 20. A compressor 12 and a condenser 13 are disposed below the ice bin 11.
The freezing unit 20 comprises a water tray 21, a freezing base plate 22, and an evaporator 23 as shown in FIG. 2. The water tray 21 is filled with water and a multiplicity of freezing fingers 24 are formed on the lower surface of the freezing base plate 22 for being dipped in the water so as to freeze it. A pivoting means 25 is disposed at one side of the water tray 21 for tilting the water tray 21 and discharging the water that does not freeze to form ice pieces. The evaporator 23 is disposed on the upper surface of the freezing base plate 22 and is connected with a freezing system. Refrigerant flows inside the evaporator 23 and the freezing base plate 22 and the freezing fingers 24 are cooled by the heat exchange of the refrigerant.
The air removing means 30 is provided for preventing opacification from occurring during the ice making process by removing air bubbles in the water to be frozen. The air removing means 30 comprises a rocking plate 31 that can rock up and down inside the water tray 21, and a rocking motor 32 for rocking the rocking plate 31. When an engagement piece 33 disposed in the rocking motor 32 hits an engagement pin 34, the rocking plate 31 rocks, thereby floatingthe air bubbles upwardly and outside the water.
The freezing unit 20 further comprises a water supply pipe 14, a pivotal shaft 26, a water chute 27, and a water collecting section 15.
Hereinafter, the operation is described of a conventional ice making machine having the above-described structure.
When the water is supplied to the water tray 21 through the water supply pipe 14 and the freezing fingers 24 are dipped into the water, the water starts to form ice around the freezing fingers 24, which are cooled below the freezing point by heat exchange of the refrigerant flowing inside the evaporator 23. At the same time, the rocking plate 31 under the water rocks up and down as the rocking motor 32 is driven. Accordingly, the air bubbles inside the water are removed and clear ice pieces are gradually formed around the freezing fingers 24.
After the ice pieces formed around the freezing fingers 24 reach a predetermined size, the rocking plate 31 stops rocking, and hot gas is discharged from the compressor 12, without passing through the condenser 13, directly into the evaporator 23, thereby warming the freezing fingers 24. The water tray 21 is tilted on the pivotal shaft 26 by the pivoting means 25. Therefore, the ice pieces are separated off the freezing fingers 24 and drop into the ice bin 11, and the water remaining in the water tray 21 is discharged into the water collecting section 15.
Such conventional ice making machines require an amount of water exceeding what is actually needed to be frozen as the water tray is designed to hold more than the amount of water necessary to make ice pieces, thereby wasting a lot of water.
Moreover, since the freezing fingers 24 cool not only the water to be frozen but also all of the water in the water tray 21, excessive energy is consumed and it takes too long to freeze the water around the freezing fingers 24.
An object of the invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described hereinafter.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the foregoing problems by providing an ice making machine enabled to minimize the waste of water by supplying a predetermined amount of water into a multiplicity of freezing cells formed having a predetermined size and to shorten the time required to form ice pieces by increasing the freezing speed around the freezing fingers.
In order to achieve the above objective, the ice making machine according to the present invention comprises a housing, an evaporator connected to a freezing system, a base frame having a multiplicity of freezing cells for receiving water to be frozen, a freezing base plate provided with the evaporator and having freezing fingers formed on the lower surface of to be dipped into the space defined by the multiplicity of freezing cells in which water to be frozen has been introduced, and an air removing means circulating the water around the freezing fingers for removing air bubbles inside the water.
The air removing means preferably comprises a multiplicity of nozzles spraying air onto the water contained in the freezing cells.
The nozzles are disposed in grooves directed in a tangent to the rims of the freezing cells.